Don’t make yourself comfortable

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

3/12/14, 9:10 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 9:43 PM CET

The departure from the European Parliament of German centre-right MEP Klaus-Heiner Lehne for the European Court of Auditors left an empty seat at the Parliament’s conference of committee chairmen and women: the chair of the chair of chairs.

Lehne, who chaired the legal affairs committee, used also to chair that conference, which last week decided he should be succeeded by Doris Pack (pictured), who chairs the Parliament’s culture and education committee.

She is, like Lehne, from the German centre-right. What makes her appointment doubly uncontroversial is that she is not seeking re-election to the Parliament, so will hold this powerful and prestigious position for only another few weeks.